Are You One Of The "Most Dependable" SEOs?, Are You Willing to Pay to Be One? Options

[qwerty]

I just got a phone call (even though I'm on the do not call list) from a company which shall remain nameless. They told me they'd like me to apply to be listed in Inc Magazine as one of the ten most dependable SEOs in the business, based on a number of criteria that seemed pretty legitimate. It sounded like it might be worthwhile, so I didn't immediately tell them to leave me alone.

As it turns out, should I be selected as one of the top 10, I would have the opportunity to pay them something in the area of $5500 to appear in the list, which would not be a feature or an article in the magazine, but an advertisement. This means, of course, that the "top 10" that will end up in the magazine are going to be the top 10 of those who were willing to shell out the big bucks to be listed as one of the top 10 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hmm.gif)

What an honor.

[Copywriter39]

inc. Magazine is one of my favorite magazine. It's a shame they would allow advertisement like this. What happens if they can't get 10 SEO professionals who meet their criteria to pony up the money. Do they relax their criteria until they get to 10?

[lisety]

It just amazes me that people put all this energy into thinking up schemes to rip people off! I've no doubt that they'll find some unsuspecting SEO to sign up. Then the scam goes a step further because people will probably call these SEO's thinking they're one of the top 10!!!

[Jill]

Yes, they seem to be calling all Mass. firms. There was a Sphinn thread about it last week I think.

[projectphp]

Why not just do it yourselves? Jill, Bob, a few others... put an ad somewhere. $55,000 might buy a pretty good placement somewhere (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink1.gif)

[incrediblehelp]

Got the same call and now the lady is emailing like crazy as well.

[Zishan Ahmed]

But what's wrong in it.. just by getting featured in an Magazine... someone is willing to pay you $5500... if i would have been in the place I would straight answered in an affirmative way......





Don't take it seriouly guys............ just chilling out in my comfort zone of the office. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/girl_cray2.gif)

[torka]

You misunderstand, Zishan.

They won't be featured in the magazine. They'll be listed in an advertisement, which is very different from being included in a feature article.

And they don't get paid for appearing in the ad. They have to pay the company that's placing the ad. If you have $5,500 to pay someone to help them run an ad that's essentially promoting their company, with your company mentioned in passing as only one on a list of 10, then by all means go for it.

As for me, I can think of a lot more effective ways of spending $5,500.

--Torka (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif)

[SEMSEO]

What's the difference between paying this magazine $5,500 and paying SEMPO $299/$5,000? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/searchme.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sarcastic_blum.gif)

[Copywriter39]

What's the difference between paying this magazine $5,500 and paying SEMPO $299/$5,000? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/searchme.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mf_tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sarcastic_blum.gif)

For one, paying 299 is a lot less than paying 5500.
Second, SEMPO admits it not an accreditation organization, while this ad specifically states that its listing the 10 most dependable SEO's.

A lot of SEMPO is about educating people about SEO. And besides your not paying Inc magazine this money. You're paying it to an advertiser.

[Webmaster T]

A firm I work with was included as well. Don't know if they paid... I doubt it... but even if they did... I doubt Ford, GM and Toyota turn down the opp to win the JDPowers award which is from what I have seen similar in nature to the GoldLine Award. I can't belive how a full page spread (Paid or not) is bad in any way for anyone. It puts SEO in front of those who actually sign the check... Only the "national enquirer" element in this industry would take any coverage in a reputable Mag like Inc. and compare it negatively to the lowest element rating SEOs. And we wonder why we have reputation problems? IMO, linkbait is BS done by BS professionals who aren't doing anything that we weren't doing in 95... only thing is we would have been flabbergasted to be even considered worthy of discussion in a mag like Inc and definitely wouldn't make this a "suspect" entry in a prominent mag!

I don't mean Bob or this thread specifically but more the other stuff you find when you search on this.

This post has been edited by Webmaster T: Aug 15 2008, 11:03 AM

[Jill]

The difference between this and SEMPO is that SEMPO doesn't claim their members are dependable nor credible. If people make that inference just because some company is a member, that's that someone's own fault for inferring it.

But by calling certain SEO companies that are willing to pay a fee "the 10 most dependable SEO's" is an out and out lie. They should call them the most dependable SEOs who are willing to pay $5500.

They're not the 10 most dependable SEOs. There are perhaps other SEOs who are just as dependable or more dependable but they didn't want to pay for that "honor."

[Victoria C.]

Hi folks. We want to jump in here and set the record straight on a number of comments about our recent SEM list. It appears that there is some confusion in the marketplace regarding our company, our services and our business model.

We started Goldline Research more than four years ago to solve a simple problem: How do I find a dependable professional that I can trust to give me good service? The Internet is a great resource, but it’s not always easy to find “the” firm that you are looking for (especially with all the search engine jockeying going on out there). Industry associations are useful but not everyone joins the association, and not every industry has one. Friends and colleagues are great sources as well, but often they don’t have recommendations to offer. We realized that there were lots of people experiencing the same challenge, and we believed that there was a market need for a company that would help consumers identify third party-reviewed service professionals.

Our business model is similar to other companies such as J.D. Power, Good Housekeeping (and a whole bunch of others out there like them). We started researching service professionals in a variety of industries where consumers had a hard time finding a dependable provider. Our research process entails five broad steps, including determining industry-specific criteria, conducting detailed company interviews, talking with customer references, reviewing public records and quantitative analyses. Over the years we’ve expanded our industry coverage and strengthened our research process. To date, we have interviewed nearly 10K professionals in ten different industries. We don’t have any allusions that what we do is the be-all or end-all. We just think it’s a cool, helpful service to both consumers and to the companies we research and publish.

While I’m at it, there is another point of confusion that I want to clear up. We tell *everyone* that we speak to that we are not Inc. Magazine or Forbes or any other magazine. We don’t pretend to be working for any of those publications, nor do we pretend to be “Inc. Magazine editors”. We are also upfront that we do charge a fee for our work. We wish we didn’t have to charge fees, but, until Uncle Sam starts providing this service with our taxpayer dollars or subsidizing our business, we have to keep the lights on. We do our best to minimize our overhead expenses, but as mentioned earlier in this thread, Inc., Forbes, etc. cost more than $100K for a one-off advertising page, so promoting the companies that we think are dependable in those magazines isn’t cheap, and nearly all of the service fees that we charge go to pay for the publication. During our interview with a company, we tell them about our service fee. We only charge fees to the firms that make it to the final list. *Every company* that wants to be considered past the interview stage in our process signs a contract agreeing to the fees and the services we provide should they make it to the final list. There is no “bait and switch” going on here as was alluded to at some point in the thread. And, no, we do not discount our fees (or make our service free) to “bigger” players to make our list more credible or charge different fees to “smaller” players. Everybody pays the exact same fee no matter what.

The companies that receive our seal of approval see some useful benefits. Many of our clients have told us that our seal of approval helps provide them with credibility in the marketplace in that this helps them stand out above the fray. We also know that we help get them access to major local and national publications for promotional purposes that they would otherwise not be able to get to because it would be cost prohibitive. And, if that wasn’t enough, we do our best to help firms with their marketing. After all, many of small and medium-sized firms that we talking about (of which I’m guessing many of you on this thread are) are trying to grow and become more successful, and this has proven to help them with that.

Over the last four years, we have completed more than 100 research lists. People keep coming back to participate each year because they are getting value. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t exist. We really appreciate the lively discussion here, and, if you have suggestions for ways that we can improve our offering (useful suggestions, please; the flame messages aren’t very helpful), let us know or give us a call.

[Jill]

Yes, Victoria, I'm sure the companies do come back to participate each year as it's a great way to dupe the public into thinking you're a great company, when in fact, you have paid for the "honor."

I don't fault the companies who have the budget to pay for this as it's good marketing. But I still think it totally sucks because there are readers of those magazines who will never know that the companies they think are "most dependable" are really just those with the biggest budgets.

[qwerty]

Has anyone got a copy of the advertisement/list as it actually appeared in the magazine? I'd like to see if there's any indication that the firms listed paid.

I'd also be curious to see if Victoria's firm, with all the vetting they do, offers some seal of approval that doesn't involve appearing in one of these top-ten lists. That is, if I had participated, and they found my firm to be worthy of the top ten listing, but I'd abstained for paying for a position in the ad, would there still be some seal of approval I could claim to have earned?